Kozcon, Timurid Persian vs the Crusaders

A Headless Body Production

Venue:  Ferrell Fire Company Hall, Monroeville, NJ 
Event:    Kozcon 
Players: Phil Gardocki running Timurid Persian  
                   Bill Hawks, Later Crusader             
Game System: L'Art de la Guerre, 200 points per side.
Theme: Open, no restrictions
Scale: 25mm


The Forces:

Timurid Persian circa 1400: Commanders  Timur the Lame (Strategist), Zombie Ulugh Beg, who earned his title by being the first general killed this day, (Brilliant) and Babur (Competent)

      4 Persian Heavy Cavalry, Impact, Bow (elite)
      4 Persian Heavy Cavalry, Bow (2 elite)
      4 Turkomans, Light Cavalry, Bow (elite)
      2 Light Infantry Bow
      4 Persian Archers, Bowmen (Mediocre)
      2 Hostages, Levy Expendable, (Mediocre)
      2 Stampeding Herds
      1 Elephant
Breakpoint...19

Later Crusader, Total guesswork here.  One Brilliant and two Competent commanders.
     4 Medium Knights
     6 Mix Heavy Spearmen, Crossbow
     2 Light Horse
     2 Heavy Spearmen
     4 Light Foot
     3 Medium Foot
Breakpoint...22(ish)
 

KozCon is held in memory of our good friend and avid gamer Dave Kozlow who passed away in 2012.  If you've ever had the opportunity to play in one of his many games at HMGS events you know that he was not only a great person but also a notable credit to our hobby.  In light of Dave's five year battle with cancer ALL proceeds from KozCon are donated to the American Cancer Society.

The Board:

Timur the Lame wins the initiative and selects to attack in the plains. The Crusaders select a field, 2 plantations and a coastal zone.  The Persians a gully and a hill, which could not be placed for space reasons.

The Crusader right is secured by a coastal zone, and then an ambushed field.

The right and center seems to be the expected mix of Knights, Lights, and Spearmen.

The left is secured by Mixed Crossbow and Heavy Spear units.

Zombie Ulugh Beg* is only revealing his cattle herd and his elite Bow Heavy Cavalry.  The rest are in ambush in the gully.

Babur's command only reveals two units of hostages.  In ambush is 4 Persian archers, an elephant, and a light foot.

Timur takes the position of honor on the right.  He seems well positioned to wrap around the flank.

Turn 1:

Ulugh Beg's command reveals their hidden troops and advance.

Babur's command is flush with command points.  All his troops exit the plantation as well.

Most of Timur's troops double move in an attempt to wrap around the foot units in front of them.

Don't read too much into this formation,  its just how things worked out.

An ambush is revealed.  Medium foot with bows.  Break out the barbecue pits.  The herd of cattle is shot away by long range missile fire.

The crusaders angle their lines to avoid being flanked.

The Crusader long range missile fire on Timur's cavalry has no effect.

Turn 2:

On the Timurid left, the cavalry advances to just within charge reach.  A single Turkoman gallops off to scout the flanks.

The Crusaders have a considerable advantage in numbers on the Timurid left.  So Ulugh Beg will be cautious.

Babur is facing knights, and so is going to play cautious as well.  He lines up his archers, but will go no further forward.

Timur advances to missile range.

The Missile exchanges start, and the Persian archery proves deficient.

On the center and right some arrows manage to hit home.

Crusader foot also proves adept at catching arrows.

Turn 3:

With the Crusader line bent, this is a good opportunity to charge the Bowmen.  As the supporting line of foot is not behind the flanks of the charging cavalry.  But luck is not with the Persians, and the bowmen hold their ground.

Anticipating a knight charge, the Persian archers head back to the plantation.  Hoping to lure the knights closer.

Timur's impatience shows here.  These are heavy spearmen here, so even with impact, the Persian Cavalry is charging in at a zero to a +2.  Persian cavalry advantages are armor, elite, and a flank support.  But that proves not enough as a Persian Cavalry unit is destroyed on contact.

Zombie Ulugh Beg's followup attack is looking better, as the Crusader Crossbowmen begin to crack.

Crusader spearmen thoroughly ZOC the Persians here, while the Crusader Knights advance beyond their flanks.

But the Knights are not without their opponents as well.  The Persian Archers may be running away, but the Elephant is still facing them.

The Crusader foot troops pull all sorts of maneuvers here.  Preventing further surrounding by the Turkomans, and beginning to turn the flanks of the Persian cavalry.

Turn 4:

The Crusaders successfully rally one of their Crossbowmen.  But their spearmen have now taken a bow hit.

The Elephant charges, and causes two hits on his opposing Knight.

The Cattle Herd is stampeded into a Heavy Spear Unit, and is successful.  For those counting, this is only the 2nd time of 10 deployments where the cows have struck home and won.

A success for the Persian Cavalry as one of Crusader Mixed Spear Crossbow units is destroyed.

On the bottom of the turn, another Crusader Crossbow unit is destroyed.

Ulugh Beg commanded a retreat of his cavalry, but is being followed closely.

The Persian archers are now positioned to shoot from within the plantation.  But their shots prove ineffective.

And for the first time, the Stampeding Cattle have a solid win, trampling over their foe.

Turn 5:
The current score:
The Persians are 7 points towards their demoralization level of 19.
The Crusaders are 7 points towards their demoralization level of 22.

The victorious Persian Cavalry flanks a Crusader Crossbow with help from their Turkoman allies.

Crusader Spearmen chase air.  One of the Knights picks up a bow hit.

The elephant continues to hold up the Crusader Knight line.  Crusader lights destroy a unit of Levy Hostages.

The Stampeding Cattle trample another spear unit.

Crusader spear flank charge a Persian Cavalry.  But another Crusader Crossbow unit is destroyed.

Ulugh Beg and Babur form a firing line.

The Knights have rallied from their earlier hits, but they are not going anywhere.

The Cattle are pushed back and dispersed.  Causing a rout hit on a Persian Cavalry unit.

Turn 6:
The current score:
The Persians are 8 points towards their demoralization level of 19.
The Crusaders are 12 points towards their demoralization level of 22.

Both sides are flanked here.  Its just a matter of who can eat who first.

Ulugh Beg rallies one of his Cavalry.  But Crusader armor seems proof against Persian Bows.

After 5 rounds of combat, the Elephant is still fighting.  If he only had decent support, this would have been a win.

On a side bar issue.  Crusader Light Horse are trying to loot the Persian camp.  An Archer unit and a Light Foot unit are deployed as bouncers.

Another Persian Cavalry falls.  But the Persian cavalry on the far right has rallied as well!

On the sixth bound of combat, the Knights defeat the elephant.  This is a two edged blessing as now all the Knights are subject to all the Persian Archery fire now.  Before now, they were invalid targets due to the fight.

Turn 7:
The current score:
The Persians are 10 points towards their demoralization level of 19.
The Crusaders are 16 points towards their demoralization level of 22.

Another Persian Cavalry has fallen.  But at least the line looks more organized.

The Crusader line has advanced, but is also picking up cohesive missile fire.

Another knight is shot.

A Crusader Light Horse was shot, charged and caught.

And with that, the 22nd point is scored towards the Crusaders demoralization level.

While the other Crusader Light Horse is just shot to death.

The Final score:
The Persians are 10 points towards their demoralization level of 19.
The Crusaders are 22 points towards their demoralization level of 22.

This battle was basically 3 skirmishes, like many in LADG, where each command if fighting independently from the others.  

On the Persian left, the Persians turned the Crusader right.  Which the Crusaders reacted to by bending their line to avoid flank contact.  This gave the Persian Heavy Cavalry an opportunity to charge LMI in the open without fear of an immediate counter attack from the Crusader Heavy Spearmen.  The dice were not kind to the Persians though, and the Crusader Crossbow held long enough for a bit of a counterattack.  A Persian Cavalry was destroyed to two bowmen, and with other hits, mainly from bow fire, this flank point total was 3-9, in the Persians favor.

In the center, the commands was the Persian bow command, supported by an elephant and a couple of hostages.  The Crusaders facing them were Knights supported by Light Cavalry.  The Persians initially were aggressive, but then pulled back to the safety of the plantation.  The elephant left behind due to command points.  But this turned to a blessing as the Knights turned the flank of both Persian flank commands, but couldn't exploit the position as the elephant sacrificed itself to keep them in contact.  That gave the bowmen a chance to redeploy and harass the Knights from afar.  In points, this fight was 3-4 in the Persians favor.

The best Persian troops were on the right, but they were also facing the worst combination of Crusaders.  Mixed Bow Spear.  The smart play was to shoot it out, while pursuing a flank advantage, but instead they fired once and charged in.  The Spearmen on impact being plus 1 and 2 depending if it had a missile hit, to zero.  Persian advantages being the Spearmen being mediocre vs elite, and having armor.  Which is ok, but it means a long, drawn out fight, where numbers matter, and the Crusaders were beginning to apply their numbers.  The Stampeding Cattle proved decisive here, destroying one Heavy Spear, damaging another, and more importantly, kept those spear from flanking and destroying the Persian Cavalry in a timely fashion.  This fight was 4-9 in the Persians favor.

*Ulugh Beg was killed in the first round of this tournament, thus the "Zombie" reference.